S&M: Are you a Liger on defense and offense?

Cheesy sports analogy  aside,

Are you?



 Some people love to score and create plays.  Some people can't score  but excel at stopping others.  We have rare Ligers(my term for "unicorn") that can do both. As business professionals, we all have been involved in the process of gaining a customer.  The presentation can be nerve wrecking-especially when you meet the C-suite decision makers that can give the simple yes or no.  Even if you are in a completely different industry from the next person, we agree that:

1. You have had to sell yourself and your services to that prospect.
2. Chances are your prospect needs a final sign off for approval of your services.
3. There's a final showdown(meeting) where your fate will be determined.

In your first meeting presenting your services/solutions, you will have to play offense and defense to win the client over.

Offense (Presenting, selling the value)

Offensively, you need to show what you think is important to them and magnify it with valuable information.  You will most likely deal with more than one person and each person has motives or drivers that trigger saying yes.    Think of your PPT, voice, and references as the offense needed to weaken their defense.  If you need a good reference for the do's and don't of PowerPoint slides, look here-amazing examples.  

Defense (Answering tough questions, negative responses)

In an ideal situation, we get to play offense all day and receive a yes.  Not so fast...

It just doesn't work that way.  Typically the prospect will let you play offense and then will be ready to test your defense.  By testing your defense, they are looking for how you handle situations they fear could happen.  They could also want to see if you press when stressed, or if you show calmly how your service/product can help them.  Objections and disagreement are their defense mechanisms prompting you to defend your reputation and product/service.

"Offense wins games.  Defense wins  championships"

When I refer to winning the game, it means getting the meeting and attention.  For them to agree to the meeting obviously shows they respect you enough to use their time to listen to you.  The more games you win, the higher the chances you have of getting to the 'ship!  If you can address their concerns and handle their attempt to trap you, you will win in the big picture.  Being a two-way player is good because sometimes you will have to play defense(especially if the offense isn't good enough.)